Court Reporter

The new chairman of one of the leading cricket clubs in the Dispatch district has been convicted of drink driving in his BMW.

Former player Neil South (48) is set to take over from London City businessman Michael Secretan as the chairman of Papplewick and Linby Cricket Club from January 2014.

He is currently the club’s acting chairman, having previously served as vice-chairman.

However, South, who is an accountant, has now been banned from driving for 12 months after appearing at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of drink driving on the A614 at Arnold while travelling home from work on Thursday 15th August.

South, of Charnwood House, Whyburn Lane, Hucknall, was also fined £700 and ordered to pay court costs of £85, plus a victim surcharge of £70.

Sanjay Jareth (prosecuting) told the court that police officers received reports from a concerned motorist at 8.18 pm that a BMW was “travelling erratically on the A614 and was repeatedly hitting the kerb”.

When discovering that the car was registered to South, the officers visited his home and spoke to him. “His complexion was flushed and his breath smelled of alcohol,” said Mr Jareth.

After a breath test proved positive, he was arrested and taken to the police station where a blood test found that he had 89 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80 milligrammes.

South, who is married with two children, was not legally represented in court. But a statement, prepared by Nottingham solicitors Rothera Dawson, was read to the magistrates.

It explained that South had drunk “a couple of glasses of wine” while entertaining a client that lunchtime. He firmly believed that it would not be enough to have an adverse effect on his driving several hours later.

South told the court: “I was stunned, shocked and upset. It was stupid and a massive lesson and learning curve for me. I unreservedly apologise.”

The court heard that South had never been in trouble before, although he had two previous offences for speeding within nine days of each other in November 2010.

He had been a partner in the accountancy firm, Clayton Brewill, of Canal Street, Nottingham, since 1995 and drove, on average, 20,000 miles a year as part of his job.

The court heard that “a driving ban will inevitably have a detrimental effect on his work, presenting problems when meeting clients and attending meetings.”

South said he was willing to attend a drink driving rehabilitation course, which would reduce his ban by three months if he successfully completed the course by May 2014.

Papplewick and Linby have been one of the elite 12 cricket clubs in the county since 2003, playing in the Notts Premier League. However, they suffered relegation during the season just finished.